Learning To Feel
by AxelCat
Summary: 'The new substitute drama teacher was... strange. Yes, that was the word: strange.' The story of fourteen college students, and one rather insane professor. Eventual Axel/Roxas, Cloud/Zack, Sora/Riku, Kairi/Ventus. There are no underage characters in this work.


The substitute drama teacher was... strange. Yes - that was the word: _strange._ After ordering a young man go give the drama students the key to the stadium, and commanding said man to turn off all of the lights before leaving the vicinity, he broke into the room singing, a backing track 'magically appearing' from the speakers.

"Is it still me that makes you sweat? Am I who you think about in bed, when the lights are dim and your hands are shaking as you're sliding off your dress?" the red-headed Drama Queen had sang, setting strange looks on several student's faces.

All lights off apart from a single spot-light, the young men and women could still see their substitute's eye colour. A deep, piercing green struck each of them as he danced and swung around his students, brief but sensual touches to their cheeks or arms attracting their full attention.

"Now kiddies, who knows what emotion I was displaying in that little presentation?" he had demanded, out of breath as he seated himself on the edge of his desk, displaying perfect black jeans, red, green and black t-shirt, and heavily used converse. A boy in the back row rose his hand hesitantly. "Yup - you in the back?" the man inquired kindly, settling half-moon glasses onto his nose.

"Lust, sir?" the teen asked, breaking chuckles from some of his peers' lips.

"Correct! What's your name, kid?" the teacher asked joyfully, standing up to look over his class, lights still dulled.

"Riku Monoru, sir." Riku informed the teacher, small smirk present on his lips.

"Nice to meet'cha Riku! I'm Axel, and I'll be substituting for Mr Flynn this year. Commit that to memory. Now, first thing's first: Don't call me 'sir.' I am not even going to _tell_ you my last name, so please don't try to find it. My name is Axel," he said, strolling around to turn all of the lights back on. "Second of all: Starting at the back with the blonde chick, who are you, and what is drama to you?"

"Namine Westling. For me, drama is everything. Emotion, physicality... everything."

"Sora Strife. Drama is the art of this pitifully boring universe.

"Zexion Night. I think that drama is the only way to express how you feel, truly."

"I'm Demyx Sikara, and for me drama is everything next to music!"

"Tidus Harding, and drama's just another thing to master."

"Kairi Westling, drama is everything."

"Larxene Hummel, drama is another thing to kick ass at."

"Ventus Strife - I'm just here 'cause my brothers are..."

"Vanitas Remus Lindsay. I think drama is... a way apart from beating people up to let out my feelings."

"I'm Cloud Strife, and I think that drama is what will get me through in life."

"I'm Zack Fair, and I'm here to flirt with Cloud."

"I'm Leon Fair, and I'm here to learn, and to stop Zack from murdering Cloud."

"I'm Roxas Strife, and I'm here because... drama is everything for me. A reason to live, a career, and a way to let out my feelings."

Axel looked a little moved, but a little pissed off. "Zack, Ventus, Leon. Get up - move to the left of the classroom." The chosen students did so, confused. "Okay, si' down, and stay put." The red-headed teacher looked back to the group on the right, "Now, which one of you can tell me why I just sang a song about lust?" he inquired, as if nothing had happened over the past five minutes or so. All of the students grumbled a little, considering the question.

"Because you wanted to seduce us?" Zack and Leon offered in unison, their teacher shushing them quickly. Vanitas raised his hand a little shakily, his face dusted with pink.

"Yup, Vani?" the red-headed teacher pointed to him cheerfully, completely natural in everything he did.

"Well, this is just a guess, but are you going to show us the main human emotions?" the raven-haired teenager asked, golden eyes sharp on his new teacher's.

"Damn right I am. Starting with the easiest, and going up to the hardest." Axel agreed, his voice calming a little from its highness.

"B-but, sir- Axel, if we're going from easiest to hardest, then shouldn't 'love' have come first?" Cloud asked a little shyly, standing to sit down next to Roxas.

"Well, maybe love is the easiest emotion for _you_, Cloud, but for most people... loving is the most difficult thing to do. It's great that you think loving is so easy, but I'm not sure that our less enthusiastic students would find it so simple," the teacher informed the blonde teenager affectionately, looking back to the group as a whole. "I chose 'lust' for our first lesson, because... well. Let's be truthful. We've got some _genuine_hotties in here." Axel teased, fanning himself with a sheet of paper. The class laughed as a whole, nodding or crying out in agreement. They liked this guy already.

"Okay then, quiet down kiddies!" the red-head yelled, his voice still playful though. "Going back to you, Mr 'Here-to-Flirt-with-Cloud,' and crew." he cried melodramatically. "When I say 'drama' what do you think of? Just go down the line."

"'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.'"

"'Cloud, Cloud, wherefore art thou Cloud?' as performed by Zack."

"'I might not be much of a man by the light of the day, but by night I'm one hell of a lover.'"

"Roxas, Cloud and Sora in drag."

"Bloody Hell..." Axel sighed sadly, settling back down on his desk. "For those of you who said ANYTHING to do with 'Shakes His Spear,' he's... what? A billion and two now? 'Wherefore art thou?' Bloody Hell. It's true that William brought around a new form of drama, but he's thousands of years old, as are his plays. He was brilliant for his time, but we live in the twenty-first century, not the twelfth. I will teach you all the things that you can do apart from kill you and your girlfriend, and all the while I 'shalt maketh thou experience fond toeth your heart.'" he cried, arms floundering around above him.

"For all of you who mentioned 'faking,' I will teach you that acting isn't faking. It's recreating truth. Zack, I'm sure that you're an amazing man by the light of the night, and just for quoting Frank 'n' Furter you can go sit next to Cloud. No matter how much you deny it, ya love drama, kid." Cloud cried out in protest, collapsing against Roxas.

"Kill me now..." he muttered dramatically as Zack wrapped his arms around the blonde's petite shoulders.

"I love you," the raven-haired teenager reminded him softly, receiving a chaste kiss for his efforts at romanticism.

"BRILLIANT!" Axel cried in joy, "Ventus, I will deal with your cross-dressing fetish later, promise, but right now, I have a perfect opportunity to demonstrate how to recreate a real scene and make it movie or play material! Which of you did drama last year?" A few students rose their hands, the red-head's brow crinkling up as he considered something. Already, he had made the class his friends - he had related to them. "Okay then... Vanitas, Roxas, have you ever worked together theatrically before?" the teacher inquired.

"Well, yeah... we did a skit from Avenue Q. together for last years cabaret," Roxas said quietly, smiling shyly at his teacher.

"Great! You have five minutes - go out into the hallway and recreate that scene between Cloud and Zack, but make it melodramatic!"

Everything was a blur with Axel as the drama teacher. In the five minutes that Roxas and Vanitas had to prepare their performance, the substitute teacher explained to the rest of the class what 'lust' was, and how it could be used accurately in drama and theatre.

"Hey, Axel - can you do spotlights for us please?" Roxas inquired suddenly, sticking his head in the door with an amused beam on his features.

"Sure thing, Roxy!" the red-head agreed, shooing the class back into their seats and switching off the first three lights, leaving the auditorium in dull light.

"My name is 'Roxas,' _Akee._" the blonde replied cooly, allowing Vanitas to drag him back out into the hallway.

"See, this is what I like in a student. Roxas was completely willing to be what - to a normal teacher - would be counted as disrespectful," the red-head informed the class as he shut off the last lights and fingered the knobs of the light switches to create a centre-spotlight. "When you're ready, boys!" he called to his students, the two teens scurrying back inside. They examined Cloud and Zack (who were both blushing at that point) and agreed to switch jackets, so that they would look more alike to their real-life counter-parts.

"Who's playing who?" Axel asked, knowing that it was plainly obvious, but he didn't care.

"I'm playing Cloud, Van's playing Zack. We considered switching rolls, but you didn't specify whether appearance was important, so we went the safe way." Roxas replied smoothly, dragging three chairs forward and arranging them carefully. "If you want though we can easily switch," he offered, the red-headed teacher shaking his head, but beaming. "Ready then, Van?" Roxas asked, obviously leading their performance. The raven haired man nodded, settling himself down on the final chair, which was farthest from the door. "Axel, do whatcha want with the lights," the blonde commanded as he seated himself, resting his chin on his hand and freezing in that position.

There was a long moment of silence as Axel dulled the lights down to the last level, watching his students carefully for their first performer.

'Zack' sighed deeply, slouching in his chair. "'I might not be much of a man by the light of the day, but by night I'm one HELL of a lover,'" he quoted tiredly, golden eyes somehow conveying pure sadness to his audience. Axel brightened his spotlight, turning off Roxas' and the centre-piece. "Screw it... this guy's pretty cool for a teacher, but 'm pretty suspicious that he'll end up just...reporting us or some shit," he said, looking over towards 'Cloud' with deliberately horrible casuality. The blonde's eyes glinted as he looked back, blushing shyly and looking down. "Fuck, Cloud... why the Hell are you doing this to me?" he asked nobody in particular, tilting his head backwards and stretching a bit. "_Fuck._ I know you like me, everyone knows I like you! Why won't you just admit it all?" he demanded, bright yellow irises filling with tears. "I _love you_, you idiot, and you don't even believe me, do you?" He snapped his head up suddenly, grinning a little. "Thanks, Axel," came the brief whisper, his body freezing in place. The afore-mentioned teacher grinned, guessing their next action and flipping on Roxas' light.

"Damn it! Stupid arsehole!" he cried with anger and upset, blue eyes shimmery. "He knows Zack likes me, that ass... both of them? Arseholes! Freaking teacher, telling students to rape their peers... stupid Zack, making me fall in love with him!" the blonde hissed, glaring at everyone and everything. "He's just... _fuck._ Perfect. And I'm just... _me..._ Anyway. He doesn't really love me. He'll probably just try to screw me and leave me." 'Cloud' said with a faint chuckle, "Well it won't work! I-I-I'm my own person, and love is for idiots and masochists who _like_ the idea of heart-break," he continued, still chuckling hysterically. "Well I'm not stupid. I'll get a job, and a pet, and a house, and I'll live happily ever after. _Without_Zack," he choked out in a stage whisper, chuckling and crying at the same time.

He kept crying silently, Vanitas rising to his feet and taking his sweet, sweet time in making his way over to Roxas. Axel sharpened the lights on the pair, eyebrows raised as he considered how they would include the thought-theme into a make-out session.

The raven teenager wrapped his arms around the blonde's shoulders, leaning further down to stage-whisper in his ear. "_I love you._" he promised, his hands reaching for Cloud's. The younger boy sobbed silently, soft, sweet words escaping his lips as their fingers became intertwined. He tilted his head backwards, allowing the black-haired teenager to brush hair from his face and wipe away his tears. 'Zack' crouched down to the correct height, keeping full eye-contact with Roxas as he sealed their lips together briefly, freezing with their bodies stuck together.

The class slowly started clapping, wolf-whistles coming from some of the boys. Axel switched the lights back on, clapping a hand to his knee in appreciation. "_Awesome_, guys!" he cried happily, giving them permission to move back to their original, more comfortable positions. Vanitas kissed Roxas briefly once more, more a symbol of thanks than of affection. Their bodies fell apart, self-accomplished grins on their faces as they looked towards Cloud and Zack for approval.

The raven-haired teenager was looking down, shaking a little. Cloud was cradled in Sora's arms, looking close to tears, but not quite sure what to do. "Zack..." he murmured at last, full silence overwhelming the room. "Zack, look at me," Cloud ordered, moving in closer to his love-interest and resting a cool hand on his cheek. The teen looked up, his soft blue eyes sad.

"I would never... ever... _never_ use you for sex, Cloud." he sobbed a little, deep pain shining from his eyes as the blonde stroked his cheek softly. "You... I didn't make you think that, did I...?" he pleaded.

"I'm sorry - you sort of did," Cloud said, wiping away Zack's tears.

"Do you really love me?" the man demanded, his tone unreadable.

"Yeah. Do you really love me?" the blonde demanded right back, Zack's head moving frantically in approval. "Then... I'm yours, honey," Cloud approved a little teasingly, once again leaning in to kiss his new-found lover. The raven smiled, kissing back without hesitation as his hands found the blonde's.

Axel coughed as Zack's hands drifted down to Cloud's ass. "Really, I'd _love_ to see you two get up to third base, but I'm pretty sure that's illegal," he said, crossing his arms and watching Roxas and Vanitas pack up their few-used props.

Cloud's face went bright red as he withdrew from Zack, settling down on his lap. "On with the lesson...?" he begged, making Axel laugh.

"Okay kiddies. Just so you know, Vanitas and Roxas are both totally awesome, and you should totally mooch off of 'em when they're famous," he said cheerfully, "So, this week is lust, and each week will be a different emotion. Today, I will teach you how to _act_ lustful for _creative purposes._" He smirked cheerfully, "No sex in the classroom though."


End file.
